Splash’s virtual reality app aims to make 360-degree videos as easy as Snapchat
[philip Lelyveld comment: this is pseudo-360, creating video panels within a panorama rather than 'streaming VR video.']
Splash, a new iOS app launched at South by Southwest Interactive, is aiming to create a Snapchat-like platform for casual sharing in virtual reality.
The easiest way to describe Splash is a sort of mashup of Periscope and Snapchat but all the content is 360-degree images and video. The app allows you to quickly share 360-degree videos of your surroundings that can be viewed on both smartphones and VR headsets like Google Cardboard.
What sets it apart from other apps that allow you to capture 360-degree views, though, is that you can also record video in addition to a static image. While shooting a scene — a process that will be familiar to those who have shot panoramas on their smartphones — you can opt to record a video clip in parts of the frame.
The results can vary from impressively immersive to wildly abstract depending on how you shoot (you can overlay multiple clips shot at different times on top of one another, for instance.) But Splash cofounder Michael Ronen says that flexibility — allowing people to create an "emotional landscape" — is the whole point.
Semantics aside, Splash, which won the top prize in the VR category at SXSW's startup accelerator Sunday, offers an intriguing glimpse into the future of social applications for virtual reality.
See the full story here: http://mashable.com/2016/03/14/splash-vr-app/#mmq9kNCNJ5q7